Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure

Atari's graffiti experiment gets analyzed.

When a famed graffiti artist like Dream stepped out of his house to go tagging back in 1983, the idea was to stay unseen. The only face of fame for a graf artist in those days was the images they left blazing on cement walls across the cities. As Dream crept into the Oakland train yards night after night, hood pulled low over his face to help obscure his identity, I'm sure he had no idea that one day there'd be a videogame based on his highly controversial art. Nevertheless, here we are in 2006 and we have a videogame by Atari that mimics the lifestyle of the urban graf artist. This isn't Jet Set Radio, but a tribute to one of the four legs of hip-hop -- the urban art of graffiti. This is Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, a game with great elements, but weak execution.

The story revolves around a young urban phenom named Trane. He lives in the oppressive city of New Radius and is ambitious about becoming a star graf artist, but there are a ton of obstacles to contend with. Rival crews and fascist-like police officers called the Civil Conduct Keepers (CCK) are very much interested in destroying young Trane. But he's not going to let any of that get him down. Trane seems used to being disliked. In fact, almost everyone he meets wants to kick his ass, probably because he crosses out others' pieces he sees on the wall. In the real graffiti world, that's enough to get almost anyone beat-up.

One of the coolest things this game has going for it is the kick-ass soundtrack! If the same scrutiny given to the soundtrack was applied to the control scheme in the game, Getting Up would've been an extraordinary experience. Just to give you a taste, the game features songs from Talib Kweli, Mobb Deep, Pharoahe Monch, Del the Funky Homosapien, Eric B and Rakim. That's some serious hip-hop talent right there, and it truly adds to the atmosphere of the game. At one point, Trane is riding the roof of a subway and has to tag on it without getting knocked-off. In the background, I hear the beat from Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mels' White Lines. This not only made me want to start breakdancing on the spot, but it made this scene in the game adventurous with hip-hop flavor. Awesome!

Another great element is how the designers have incorporated graffiti legends and black books in this game. If you know anything about graffiti, you know that a piece book (or black book here) is a tagging necessity. It's not only what you use to practice your art in, but whenever you run-up on another cool artist, you want them to put something in your book. When Trane first meets the legendary Futura, he makes a request for him to hit-up in his Black Book. It's a moment that made me smile because it reminds me of the first time I met Dream.

Just like Dream told me, Futura tells him to "know his history." He explains that every time he sees a legend's piece around the city, he should take a snap-shot of it and put it in his Black Book. Other legends offer up sage advice, like when Cope2 tells Trane to "stay off the third rail." Any real graf artist knows what this means as soon as they hear it. If you're dying to know, play the game, or go rent the movie "Beat Street." In sum, the game takes an opportunity to educate the players on the nuances of graffiti and what the art is all about.